As a Delta Air Lines passenger appeared to have an endless capacity for violence while trying to open an exit door as the plane was in mid-air, one flight attendant used a bottle of wine as a weapon to try to subdue him.

Joseph Hudek IV was eventually subdued by multiple people on the Thursday night Seattle-to-Beijing flight. Hudek was traveling in first class on a dependent pass, which meant he had relatives working for the airline.

About one hour into the flight, Hudek went to the bathroom and then, according to a an FBI affidavit “lunged toward the forward right exit door of the aircraft, grabbed the handle” and tried to pull it open.

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Two flight attendants began waging an unequal war to stop him. They declared an in-flight emergency, alerted the pilot and asked the passengers for help.

As the pilot turned the plane back in the direction of Seattle, a flight attendant and Hudek struggled until she was tossed aside. A passenger who tried to intervene was also unable to stop Hudek, the affidavit said.

Once he was rid of those trying to stop him, Hudek returned to the door and made some progress in opening it, but could not overcome the external pressure keeping the door shut.

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A flight attendant then smashed two wine bottles over Hudek’s head, the FBI said.

“They broke two bottles of wine on his head. I tried to choke him and he just threw me off like a rag doll,” one witness said.

“Hudek did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full liter red wine bottle over his head,” the FBI agent investigating the incident wrote, “and instead shouted ‘Do you know who I am?’ or something to that extent.”

As more passengers joined in, Hudek was eventually subdued. He was held down in the galley, with his limbs fastened by zip-ties. Passengers helped move the door’s lever, which Hudek had raised, to its proper place.

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Hudek was charged with interfering with a flight crew.

Delta confirmed a mid-flight “security incident” but provided no details. A flight attendant and one passenger who tried to restrain Hudek were hospitalized with “severe facial injuries,” according to the affidavit.

Because the incident took place in American airspace, and initial reports suggested the man was trying to enter the cockpit, F-15s were prepared to be sent aloft depending on how the emergency unfolded. Officials said they never took off.